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The Washington Connection 12-12-24

Welcome to the Washington Connection, the legislative and information service of the American Council of the Blind. The Washington Connection is brought to you by the ACB national office. If you have any questions or comments on the information provided, don’t hesitate to contact us and ask to speak with Swatha Nandhakumar.

The Washington Connection is updated any time we have new information to share with you. The following articles are available as of December 12, 2024. All eight messages are new.

Thank you for calling the Washington Connection.

U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division Announces Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

 

On December 3, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a Notice of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRM), Employment of Workers with Disabilities Under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, that would phase out certificates allowing employers to pay workers with disabilities at wage rates below the federal minimum wage.

Since the Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted in 1938, significant legal and policy developments have expanded employment opportunities and rights for individuals with disabilities. Expectations and beliefs regarding the employment of individuals with disabilities have evolved and increased opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

With this NPRM, the Department proposes to:

  • Cease the Department’s issuance of new section 14(c) certificates to employers submitting an initial application on or after the effective date of a final rule.
  • Permit existing section 14(c) certificate holders, assuming all legal requirements are met, to continue to operate under section 14(c) certificate authority for up to 3 years after the effective date of a final rule.

If finalized, the Department believes this proposal would increase wages, improving the economic self-sufficiency of these workers. Along with the broader shifts in opportunities for workers with disabilities, this proposal could lead to an increase in the overall labor force participation rate for persons with disabilities.

This proposal would not require impacted workers to leave their current places of employment, nor would it require current section 14(c) certificate holders to amend the type of services that they currently provide. The Department expects that many workers currently paid under a section 14(c) certificate will be able to transition to full-wage employment, leading to benefits for workers.

The Department invites public comments on this NPRM at https://tinyurl.com/4jd4aycs. The NPRM’s comment period closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on January 17, 2025.

 

ACB Scholarship Application Now Available Online

 

The American Council of the Blind, in partnership with other organizations and individuals, offers educational scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $7,500 for entering freshmen, undergraduate and graduate students, and those attending technical college.

This program awards students with scholarships to help with post-secondary education financial needs such as tuition, fees, room and board and other additional costs associated with assistive technology.

To be eligible for a scholarship, applicants need to be legally blind, maintain a 3.0 GPA to be eligible for most scholarships, be a full-time student or a part-time student who works at least 32 hours per week, and be involved in their school and local community. Scholarships are awarded to students who attend post-secondary institutions in the United States.

You will need to include the following documents with your completed application:

  1. Certification of legal blindness from an ophthalmologist, optometrist or physician. Legal blindness is defined as an individual who cannot see better than 20/200 in the best eye with glasses or contact lenses or whose visual field in the best eye is 20 degrees or less at the widest diameter with glasses or contact lenses.
  2. A transcript(s) from the school you are currently attending. Entering freshmen will need to include their high school transcripts and graduate students will need to include undergraduate transcripts. Unless extenuating circumstances exist, a 3.0 cumulative grade point average is required.
  3. Two letters of recommendation from a current or recent instructor, career counselor or employer. Please submit each letter of recommendation separately.
  4. Proof of acceptance from a post-secondary school. Entering and transferring students must submit a notice or letter from the admissions office certifying acceptance or consideration for admission. If this is not available when the application is submitted, it must be submitted as soon as it is available. Students continuing at the same school attended during 2023 will not need to submit this document.

Applications for the 2025 - 2026 school year can be submitted online from Wednesday, November 1, 2024 to Wednesday, February 14, 2025 11:59 p.m. (CST).

All interested candidates must register for an ACB account prior to submitting a scholarship application online. Once you have created an account with ACB, please login and then you can access the scholarship application from the link at the top of the site. Visit https://members.acb.org/ to create an account or log in.

Scholarship winners will experience firsthand ACB’s National Conference and Convention in July, where you will meet other students who share the same life experiences, create lasting friendships and network with individuals who understand what you are going through and can help you with your journey. There are also many sessions where you can learn about new technology and what is happening in our community.

For more information, please contact the ACB Office at (612) 332-3242 or (800) 866-3242, or send an email to [email protected]. We look forward to receiving your application materials.

 

Bus Safety and Accessibility Research Program

 

On November 18, 2024, FTA announced the availability of $10 million in Fiscal Year 2025 competitive grant funding for organizations to research designs and create prototypes that will make buses safer for drivers and riders.

In keeping with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s focus on improving safety in the nation’s transportation systems, FTA’s Bus Safety and Accessibility Program supports the development of standard designs and prototypes that will make existing and new buses safer for operators, riders and vulnerable road users, as well as more accessible for passengers.

FTA’s top priority remains to enhance the safety of America’s public transportation systems. Projects solicited by this funding opportunity must address bus operator health and safety; transit vehicle safety, and accessibility; and provide a foundation for transformative bus systems and designs that enhance safety.

Project objectives include focusing on developing driver safety systems and passenger safety systems, including:

  1. Researching standard bus designs, innovations, and technologies to make existing and new buses safer for their operator and vulnerable road users, and safer and more accessible for their passengers.
  2. Producing a prototype that is available as a retrofit on existing buses and for installation in new buses.

The strategic goal for this program is to make existing and new buses safer for their operators and vulnerable road users, and safer and more accessible for their passengers. The program objectives include research on bus designs, innovations, and technologies, as well as production of a prototype that is available through a retrofit on existing buses and for installation in new buses. The program’s key focus areas are:

  • Driver Safety Systems – Changes made to the transit vehicle and technology upgrades that protect the operator and enhance the safety of those outside of the vehicle, including vulnerable road users.
  • Passenger Safety Systems – Changes made to the transit vehicle and technology upgrades that protect and increase accessibility of the passengers.

All applicants will also be expected to produce results that follow three major principles. These principles represent the values on which FTA will judge whether objectives have been met.

  • Partnerships
    • Recipients will collaborate across multiple industry sectors, including all or some of these priority groups:
      • Transit Vehicle Manufacturers
      • Transit Agencies
      • Transit Labor Unions
      • Disability organizations
      • Transit riders
      • Domestic and International Research Groups
      • Component Manufacturers
  • Widely Implementable
    • Proposals are encouraged to be innovative but must consider risks to implementation and interoperability to ensure nationwide relevancy and adoption. Proposals should be able to be adopted quickly, on a wide scale.
    • Deliverables should be applicable to current and new 35- and 40-ft or articulated bus models that have passed Altoona testing, comply with all other applicable Federal requirements, and are manufactured by companies eligible to compete for FTA-funded contracts.
  • Economic vitality
    • Recipients will support the U.S. industrial base by complying with Buy America. Recognizing Executive Order 14005, “Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers” (86 FR 7475), proposed projects must support economic vitality at the national and regional levels, including advancing domestic industry and promoting domestic development of intellectual property.

Applicants must note how they will incorporate the key focus areas, meet program objectives, and follow program principles. Applications should include performance standards and measures for ensuring the success of each key focus area with a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound task plan. These measures should show minimum performance specifications and a quality assurance surveillance plan to ensure quality. Applicants must show a detailed understanding of the needs and opportunities of this program.

Eligible Recipients

Lead applicants must be one of the listed entities prescribed below. Additionally, project partners and subrecipients under this program may include, but are not limited to:

  • Departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the federal government, including federal laboratories;
  • State and local governmental entities, including multi-jurisdictional partnerships, and organizations such as metropolitan planning organizations;
  • Providers of public transportation;
  • Private for-profit or not-for-profit organizations incorporated in a jurisdiction of the United States; and
  • Institutions of higher education and technical and community colleges.

For more information, visit https://www.transit.dot.gov/notices-funding/fiscal-year-2025-bus-safety-and-accessibility-research-notice-funding.

 

2025 ACB Leadership Conference

 

The 2025 American Council of the Blind Leadership Conference is coming up in March of 2025. ACB’s Board Meeting, Presidents’ Meeting, Legislative Seminar, and Capitol Hill visits will take place March 14th-18th at the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel in Arlington, Va.

Registration for the conference will open in mid-January. The room rate for the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel is $155 per night, plus tax. This rate applies to any night starting on Monday, March 10, 2025 through Tuesday, March 25, 2025. The Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel is located at 900 S. Orme St., Arlington, VA 22204.

To make a reservation at the Sheraton, visit www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1722368237939&key=GRP&app=resvlink

You can also make a reservation by calling 1-800-325-3535 and informing the Marriott representative that you will be attending the ACB Leadership Seminar to receive the group rate. The room block cutoff date is Monday, February 17, 2025. If you experience any issues booking a room, please email Hannah Park at [email protected].

The schedule of events is as follows:

  • Friday, March 14: Afternoon tour of the National Library Service building at the Library of Congress. The number of available visitors may be limited, so register as soon as possible.
  • Saturday, March 15: Board Meeting (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern) & Evening Welcome Reception
  • Sunday, March 16: Presidents’ Meeting (including luncheon) & Evening Dine Around in Pentagon City
  • Monday, March 17: Legislative Seminar (including luncheon). The event should include discussions on the 2025 imperatives, as well as presentations from several federal representatives.
  • Tuesday, March 18: Attendees may visit Capitol Hill to meet with their representatives.

Stay tuned for more details as they become available on our conference page, https://www.acb.org/2025-acb-leadership-conference.

 

CommunityAthon: Save the Date and Get a Head Start!

 

Please join us on New Year's Eve for our 5th annual CommunityAthon, starting at 3 p.m. Eastern, as we celebrate all we've accomplished in 2024 and look ahead to a new year of endless possibilities. This will be ten hours of showcasing the variety of events held in Community, entertainment from our own Community members, drawings throughout at the bottom of each hour, and truly celebrating ACB and all we’ve accomplished. Best of all, we’ll be together to ring in 2025!

This entire event will be streamed live on ACB Media 4, held in Clubhouse, and of course in Zoom as well. Email [email protected] if you’d like to be added to receive our daily schedule of events so you can join in Zoom.

 

ACB Office Hosts Passport Application Testing

 

On December 10, 2024, several ACB members from the greater Washington, D.C. area visited the national office to test a new State Department application that will, in the future, enable persons born in the United States to reapply for a new passport using a smartphone. The Online Passport Renewal (OPR3) team with U.S. Digital Service assisted in the creation of an accessible app that blind and low vision persons will be able to use independently when reapplying for their passport.

ACB was excited to be invited into the conversation to make sure the app can be used with screen reading and magnification software. The design experts spent the entire day with ACB staff and members, listening carefully to the experience of the blind users to find ways to make the online form as accessible as possible. ACB applauded their willingness to listen carefully to the experiences of blind and low vision users.

 

Exercise Your Creativity and Help Make National Park Brochures Accessible

 

Join the 2025 Descriptathon and help make national parks more accessible! ACB, the National Park Service, and UniDescription (UniD) are recruiting volunteers to create audio descriptions for selected national park brochures. Teams are composed of people who are sighted and people on the blindness spectrum, all of whom will collaborate to describe maps, paintings, and visual images within park brochures. All meetings are held remotely, so you might find yourself learning about a park in your state or across the continent.

The Descriptathon will be a full-day event, taking place February 25-27, 2025 (volunteers are expected to attend all three days). Participants will likely spend ten hours of prep time in the five weeks before the kick-off on February 25 (approximately two hours a week). During this prep time, team members will learn about audio description, how to use the UniD tool to describe their brochure, and get to know their teammates. Four to six hours might be needed to finalize the brochure description after the three-day event. Volunteers should have solid computer skills and be comfortable learning new technology.

If this sounds great and you're ready to commit and join a team, please complete this short online form: D11 Registration form or email [email protected].

 

AFB’s Digital Accessibility Boot Camp

 

Why Choose Accessibility?

In today’s tech-driven world, the impact of our creations extends far beyond visuals and lines of code. Accessibility is not just a feature; it’s a fundamental right.

AFB’s Digital Accessibility Bootcamp is a 3-month summer experience offering computer science students the opportunity to learn how to design and build digital solutions that break down barriers, ensuring that everyone, regardless of ability, can fully engage with the digital landscape.

What Will You Gain?

  • Practical Learning: Learn by doing in a project-based curriculum, ensuring you leave with skills you can instantly apply. Our foundation coursework will teach you the principles of digital inclusion in design and development as well as how to use assistive technology, such as screen readers.
  • Cutting-edge Skills: Stand out from the crowd by enhancing your portfolio with integrated accessibility projects showcasing your skills. Through our interactive modules, practice activities, and assessments, you will produce a collection of work demonstrating your ability to apply accessibility principles within your work. You will also be able to earn digital credentials which you can integrate into your resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn accounts.
  • Mentorship and Networking: Gain insights from our accessibility experts and usability specialists who will serve as your mentors in the program. You will also have the opportunity to connect with tech industry professionals who are leading the charge for inclusive technology within their companies.

What to Expect

AFB’s Digital Accessibility Bootcamp provides students the opportunity to participate in hands-on learning, build practical experience, and interact with potential employers. Participants are expected to engage fully in all aspects of the program, including foundational coursework, independent and team-oriented projects, and meetings with program mentors and guest speakers.

Benefits:

  1. Flexibility: Fully remote experience to participate from anywhere.
  2. Incentives: $800 Midpoint Milestone award and $1,200 Scholarship award upon successful completion of the bootcamp.
  3. Tech Toolkit: A personal welcome kit, including an iPad for hands-on learning with iOS screen readers, access to Udemy for additional PD, and sport your program pride with an exclusive program T-shirt.

Commitments:

  1. Dedicate approximately 20-25 hours per week (Mon.-Fri.) during the Summer.
  2. Access to a reliable Internet connection and a computer for a seamless remote learning experience.

Bootcamp Selection Criteria

AFB’s Digital Accessibility Bootcamp participants are selected through an application and interview process. To be eligible to apply, applicants must:

  • Be enrolled in college full time, or other higher education program
  • Be studying computer science, or a related field
  • Have a minimum 3.0 GPA and a recommendation from a professor or instructor

Apply Now!

Applications for the Summer 2025 Digital Accessibility Bootcamp will be accepted November 4, 2024, through January 31, 2025.

Apply Now for the Digital Accessibility Bootcamp!

The application will ask for information about you, including your contact information, work eligibility, and education experiences. You will also be asked to provide the following:

  • Answers to several open-ended essay questions (about one paragraph each)
  • A professional resume (in PDF or Word format only)
  • OPTIONAL: Link to a project that you have worked on either through a class or on your own. Examples include presentations, code or design assignments, or a personal or community project. (Work samples must be provided through a link to your work sample on the web or in your own cloud storage; we cannot accept uploads of work samples.)

The application should take around 45-60 minutes to complete, and we strongly recommend completing the application in full in a single session. The application form will not save your progress if you exit or navigate away from the form without submitting the completed application.

Important Dates

  • Bootcamp Applications Open: November 4, 2024
  • Bootcamp Application Deadline: January 31, 2025
  • Acceptance Notifications: March/April 2025
  • Bootcamp Start Date: June 2, 2025
  • Bootcamp End Date: August 29, 2025

Interested in Leveling Up?

Upon successful completion of the Digital Accessibility Bootcamp, you will be eligible to apply for the Work Study internship program. Learn more about our Digital Accessibility Work Study and how to apply here at https://afb.org/internships/work-study.